Prado, Uggla rally Braves to beat Brewers 2-1

By ASSOCIATED PRESS   Monday, April 4, 2011
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Milwaukee Brewers' Rickie Weeks hits a home run in the third inning of a major league baseball game Monday, April 4, 2011, in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Brewers' Rickie Weeks hits a home run in the third inning of a major league baseball game Monday, April 4, 2011, in Milwaukee.

— Martin Prado and Dan Uggla homered off Takashi Saito in the eighth inning, rallying the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 victory and spoiling the Milwaukee Brewers' home opener on Monday.

Before the homers by Prado and Uggla, the Braves failed to muster much offensive support for starter Brandon Beachy, who gave up four hits, including Rickie Weeks' homer, in six innings while striking out seven.

Weeks continued his impressive start for winless Milwaukee with his third homer of the season leading off the third. It was the continuation of an ugly start to the season for the Brewers, who were swept in a three-game series at Cincinnati.

Peter Moylan (1-0) got three outs to get the victory, and Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his second save.

Prado tied it with his leadoff drive in the eighth. Saito (0-1) struck out Nate McLouth and got Chipper Jones to ground out before Uggla hit a deep fly ball to left-center that hit off the top of the wall and bounced over for a homer.

Ryan Braun had a one-out single in the eighth, but Prince Fielder hit into a double play to end the inning.

Milwaukee squandered a strong outing by Chris Narveson, who struck out five in six sparkling inning. The left-hander allowed only three singles and three walks — and he picked off one of those baserunners, McLouth, in the first.

Beachy, who made three starts last season, won a spot in the Braves' rotation with a strong performance in spring training. He got into trouble in the first, but Casey McGehee flied out with runners on first and second to end the inning.

Weeks put the Brewers in front in the third, hitting a 2-1 pitch from Beachy deep to left.

Brewers shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt doubled off Beachy in the second for his first hit of the season, then added a single in the fourth. Betancourt was acquired in Milwaukee's offseason trade with Kansas City for Zack Greinke and started the season 0 for 11.

Milwaukee couldn't take advantage of a scoring chance in the fourth, putting runners on second and third with one out. Back-to-back strikeouts by Wil Nieves and Narveson ended the inning.

Beachy got better as the game went on, retiring nine straight batters after his shaky start to the fourth.

NOTES: Greinke is expected to throw from the mound later this week as he continues to recover from a cracked rib. Greinke, Milwaukee's biggest offseason acquisition, was injured playing basketball. ... Several players from the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers threw out the first pitch at Miller Park. ... Monday's attendance was 46,017.

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